this is bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak, the headlines at three: the energy watchdog demands an explanation from national grid after nearly one million people across england and wales lost power on friday. the electricity provider says it will learn lessons. what we saw was an exceptionally rare event that we have not seen since 2008, but we will be looking very ha rd since 2008, but we will be looking very hard at what happened to make sure we minimise disruption in the future. the us financierjeffrey epstein, whose acquaintances included president trump and prince andrew, is found dead in his prison cell in new york while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. wet and windy conditions cause disruption to travellers, with the west coast main line hit by flooding. michael gove says there'll be a bail—out fund for businesses hit by brexit.

the family of a 15—year—old girl missing in malaysia thank the search teams who are scouring the jungle for her. we are extremely impressed with the effort, your expertise, your dedication. and we hope you find nora. more than a million people are evacuated from their homes as a powerful typhoon hits china. and click reports on internet shutdowns in kashmir and a new car scanner in israel. that's in half an hour.

good afternoon. the energy regulator is demanding answers from the national grid after a major blackout struck large areas of england and wales yesterday evening. around a million people were affected by the power cut, which led to huge disruption for rail passengers, caused traffic lights to fail and left thousands of homes without electricity. the national grid said the outage was a "rare and unusual event" caused by the "almost simultaneous" loss of power at a gas station and an offshore wind farm atjust before five o'clock yesterday. in a statement, rwe, owners of the power station in bedfordshire that failed, said a technical issue resulted in a shutdown of the site, in line with what they described as their normal operating practices. meanwhile, the owners of hornsea one wind farm said it was investigating the cause of the loss of power at their site. train passengers were stranded across the network and particularly at king's cross station,

with many not getting home until the early hours. simon jones has more. plunged into darkness. but now the uk's energy regulator is demanding the national grid shed some light on what went wrong. described as an incredibly rare event, but it caused chaos especially on the rail network. this was the message for travellers on a train that finally got into king's cross at two o'clock this morning. for many, it was a waiting game. the power cut off when i was sat in a carriage by myself. and the storm had started outside, so all the rain was coming onto the windows, and it was pitch black. and then we all started to sit together to try and piece together what was going on. because no—one could really understand and the announcements were failing because of the lack of power. and then we all had to walk to the very end of the carriage in the pitch black, going through a tunnel. one of the guards eventually came four and a alf hours later to open the train door.

and we just jumped out of the train onto the track and walked down the track back to kentish town station. and some services have continued to face problems with trains out of position. so what went wrong? a gas—fired power station at little barford in bedfordshire failed at liz54pm yesterday afternoon and blamed a technical issue. almost simultaneously the hornsea offshore wind farm in the north sea disconnected from the grid. the power loss was so large that back—up systems kicked in, meaning some demand across the country had to be cut. it affected almost a million customers across england and wales. the national grid says it is working with generators to find out why, admitting many questions need to be answered. we need to do a detailed technical examination of the event, and we will send that report through to ofgem and build that analysis in the coming days and weeks as we review it. then from that, i'm sure we will learn lessons and want to review how this worked to avoid some of those significant impacts in future. the consequences were widespread —

some traffic lights went out, newcastle airport experienced power issues, and at ipswich hospital the back—up generator failed. even once power was restored, many great northern trains remain stuck because the drivers could not restart them and had to wait for specialist engineers. the national grid has ruled out a cyber attack for the failure, but if the regulator is not happy with its explanations, it could be fined 10% of its annual turnover. simon jones, bbc news. services in and out of london's king cross stations were severely disrupted yesterday with some knock on effects today. our reporter greg mckenzie has been there all day talking to passengers. so normal services have resumed here at king's cross this afternoon, and that started about midday, trains got back to normal, on time. however, a few delays for the inbound services. now, a different story last night,

of course thousands of people trapped, they couldn't get into the station behind me. police were even called to control the crowds. problems right through to the early hours, about six or seven day trains were starting to run, albeit with cancellations to services to edinburgh, cambridge, leeds, bradford. but most if not all of those passengers from yesterday have now gone ahead on to their destinations, but many people coming in have said there were problems for them. i have been speaking to passengers all day. since last night at 5:30pm, we were trying to get a train from gainsborough to get to london at king's cross, and we waited for hours. we kept getting, at the last minute, cancellations until last night at 7:30pm, no—one could really tell us which train was going to be on time, how long the power outage was going to be. it was a little scary. we waited almost three hours without getting any notice. we got cancellation, after an hour and a half they told us the train was cancelled.

that was very disappointing. because we did not get any prior notice of anything, and even when we tried calling, we were not getting any answers, so that was very disappointing for us. now, the uk's energy watchdog, ofgem, has requested an urgent report on details about why this happened yesterday, so the national grid are now in the process of compiling a detailed report to determine the exact cause, and the director of operations for the national grid has already said lessons will be learned, and they hope to avoid this happening any time in the future. greg mckenzie at king's cross station, thank you very much. earlier, i spoke to tim mcmanan—smith, editor of energyst, a market leading energy magazine, via webcam. i asked him what worried him most about yesterday's power failures.

it is only two, there are many, many power stations and, you know, if they had lost 5% of capacity, this should be manageable. it is not like half the capacity went and it is total disaster. it should be the sort of thing you are able to cope with, i think. so let's go back to the tripping part of yesterday, was there too much demand or too much capacity, do we know? there was too much capacity, i think... no, the capacity dropped, because it obviously tripped, but that was probably just a technical issue, you cannot say there is too much wind, because rwe was a gas—fired power station. there was an enormous amount of wind in the system, which means you get a lot less thermal power,

so gas and coal, because they have sat back because it is being taken care of by the wind, which means obviously they will not be sitting idling that they can take demand, they can go up and down with frequency as it moves, whereas obviously wind, you are at the mercy of what is happening, so you have to have your own frequency in order to balance the grid. so the gride needs huge amounts of flexibility if they are going to go for enormous amounts of wind power and solar and so on. so it comes across as if the two systems, generation and the national grid, are not communicating properly. i mean, you can see that in the statement from rwe, they said it worked insofar as their systems worked,

and it was what happened afterwards, the outage. what concerns you about the resilience of our system? the resilience is connected to this flexibility, you need to be able to ramp up and down levels, make it balance perfectly every second of every day, you know, all the time. and if it can't be done by the generators that it used to be, you are more relying on renewables, then it has to be done by customers. so there is a thing called demand—side response, where people can turn off their production or refrigeration for 20 minutes or whatever, and they get paid for this. but this is something national grid already do, to balance huge amounts of renewables in the system, we need more of that sort of thing, or a lot more battery storage, but we are talking gigawatts. the us financierjeffrey epstein has been found dead

in his manhattan police cell. reports in the new york times say his body was found early this morning. he was awaiting trial for sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. the 66—year—old had pleaded not guilty to all charges. epstein‘s acquaintances included many of the rich and famous, such as us president donald trump, bill clinton and prince andrew. let's get the latest from our correspondent in washington, chris buckler. cruise, update us, please, on what we know has taken place. jeffrey epstein was a multimillionaire, a very wealthy individual who moved in the wealthiest of circles, as you mentioned, a list of the great and the good, and on occasions he would hold parties, and those parties have become notorious. it must be said that there are no allegations against a lot of other individuals,

but he himself was facing a series of differentjudges which related to the trafficking of underage girls. now, a decade ago he was charged and pled guilty to an offence of prostitution and procuring an underage girl for prostitution, for which he served just over a year in prison. but at the time, and since then, there has been a lot of controversy then, there has been a lot of co ntrove i’sy over then, there has been a lot of controversy over that case, a suggestion, for example, that there area number of suggestion, for example, that there are a number of other cases that we re are a number of other cases that were not taken into account, that prosecutors had much more information about similar incidents involving dozens of other girls, and injuly he was arrested and charged with a series of sex trafficking offences involving dozens of underage girls. and as you can imagine, since then, there has been a huge amount of publicity about the case, and that is partly because of

his associates. he was, as you mentioned, someone who knew president trump and appeared to know president trump and appeared to know president trump and appeared to know president trump extremely well, although since then president trump certainly has been trying to distance himself from jeffrey epstein, saying he wasn't somebody that he particularly liked, for example. he knew celebrities, politicians, as you say also members of the royal family, and at one stage he seems to have been friendly as well with prince andrew. but since then, jeffrey epstein has been under a huge amount of pressure, and a huge focus, and three weeks ago he was found in his cell at a correctional centre in manhattan with what appeared to be self marks around his neck, and since then he has been on suicide watch. according to the us media reports, he has now been found dead in his cell. as you can imagine, that is going to raise a lot of questions about how someone who appears to have been on suicide watch could kill themselves in a

correctional facility. for many people who have been following this, and in particular those connections to the high profile names and virginia roberts giuffre, i9 to the high profile names and virginia roberts giuffre, 19 a lot of these documents released last night, they will be wondering, is this the end of the scandal? well, these documents are related to a separate but connected civil case, and what is mentioned in these documents are the names of a number of high—profile individuals, including leading us politicians, suggesting that he tried to pressure her into having sex with those individuals. they have made a number of denials in many of those cases. but what it is going to do is lead a lot of people to ask further questions about this case. a lot of people believe that this would go to trial, that the information was going to be made public, and potentially the truth could be found

about notorious parties thatjeffrey epstein allegedly held during a number of years, particularly in florida and new york. now, the fea rful florida and new york. now, the fearful a lot of people will be that the truth therefore will never come out, and i suspect the pressure now is going to be on prosecutors to reveal what they knew or what they believed about those parties, and whatjeffrey epstein was responsible for. we should say that he was pleading not guilty to these judges while he was being held awaiting trial. 0k, chris buckler, thank you very much indeed, thank you. the headlines on bbc news: the energy watchdog demands an explanation from national grid after nearly one million people across england and wales lost power on friday — the electricity provider says it will learn lessons from the incident. the us financierjeffrey epstein — whose acquaintances included president trump and prince andrew — is found dead in his prison cell in new york while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

michael gove says there will be a government support fund to help british businesses in the event of a no—deal brexit. in sport, plenty of goals already on the first saturday of the premier league season, an emphatic 5—0 win for manchester city, defending champions, and an early outing for var. in the scottish premiership, ruthless celtic are victorious in a seven goal thriller against motherwell. and just six weeks from the world cup, australia recorded their highest ever score against the all blacks in a test match. that is it for now, back with more on those stories later. travellers have been hit by widespread disruption, as rail operators across the country battled hazards caused by wet and windy conditions. these pictures are from the west coast main line, which was temporarily closed in both directions after five trains became trapped in floodwaters on the tracks between lockerbie and carlisle. the southbound line has now reopened

but with trains subject to severely restricted speed limits. brittany ferries says services between portsmouth and cherbourg have been cancelled. p&0 is warning passengers to expect delays of up to two and half hours on the dover to calais route. and the site of the bristol balloon fiesta, which attracts thousands of people every year, has also been temporarily closed due to strong winds. michael gove, the cabinet minister in charge of preparing for a possible no—deal brexit, says a support fund for british businesses will help firms to deal with any "bumps in the road". he spoke openly for the first time about what's known as operation kingfisher while on a visit to northern ireland. meanwhile, as the government ramps up its no—deal planning, a leaked memo from the department for the environment,

food and rural affairs, seen by the bbc, claims there's "a lot of uncertainty" about the uk's capacity to patrol fishing waters after a no—deal brexit. the note says there are just 12 ships "to monitor a space three times the size of the surface area of the uk." earlier, i spoke to our political correspondent tony bonsignore and began by asking him about operation kingfisher. we understand it has been planned for a while, it predates borisjohnson becoming prime minister, and we know it will be discussed at a brexit committee in the coming week. what the government says is this — it want to support fundamentally viable companies, it says, who have temporary difficulties, so for example a lack of cash flow in the event of a no—deal brexit. beyond that, lots of questions — how much, what sort of practical help are they going to give, which companies? the times newspaper says a list has already been drawn up of companies that might be helped.

and how would you decide what a commercially viable company is? that is going to be controversial. so there are clearly concerns about the economic effect of a no—deal brexit on a number of companies, but more details we will have to wait for. another aspect of no—deal brexit was highlighted yesterday in these leaked memo, tell us more about that. this was sent out accidentally, can you believe, by a government official? one of the things it talked about was the impact on fishing of a no—deal brexit, because they would be no agreement on the waters around the uk. there was a lot of uncertainty about the uk's ability to patrol its own waters, only 12 ships to police in an area that is three times the surface area of the uk. we have spoken to the government, who say this was just an internal e—mail looking at media stories, they say they are very confident they can patrol the waters, but it suggests potentially a lot

of problems after an no—deal brexit, and in the last few minutes we have had a statement from labour, really trying to press the point home, saying this revelation shows the chaos and damage a no—deal brexit would inflict, they will push the government into better preparations to defend ourfishing industry and make sure others are not allowed to bully their way into our waters. the family of a 15—year—old british schoolgirl have made a new appeal for information, after she disappeared whilst on holiday in malaysia with her famiy. a team of 200 rescuers are scouring the dense forest searching for nora quoirin, who has learning difficulties. howard johnson reports. it has been a week since their daughter went missing,

a teenager with serious learning difficulties who disappeared while on holiday, suspected missing in the jungle. we are extremely impressed with the effort, your expertise, your dedication. and we hope that you find nora, and thank you so much. the malaysian authorities have used drones, sniffer dogs and thermal scanning technology to try to find nora, but in the last few days they've tried a different tact. "nora! nora darling!" the 15—year—old was born with a condition limiting the development of her brain, and that means that she needs help with simple everyday tasks. the family have stressed that, given nora's learning difficulties, it is very unlikely she would have walked off alone. they believed she may have been abducted. but today the police say they are continuing to treat her disappearance as a missing persons case.

this is the seventh day of search and rescue efforts. as you can see, some commandos here and other search and rescue workers are coming down into this area, around 30 of them exploring an area about a kilometre away from the dusan resort. they're looking in a riverbed to see if there are any signs of nora, traces that might help with this investigation. this time last week nora's family were arriving for a luxury break but today they remain wracked with emotion, not knowing the fate of their much loved daughter. howard johnson, bbc news. police in hong kong have fired tear gas at pro—democracy protestors in the district of tai wai. police have begun dismantling barricades which were erected by the protestors in order to halt traffic. some of the demonstrators are wearing helmets and masks, as they await the arrival of riot police.

meanwhile, about a thousand protesters are still holding a sit—in at the arrivals hall of hong kong airport. the protests in hong kong are now in their third month. our correspondent stephen mcdonnel is on the streets following developments. so this is the new tactic on both sides. the police are coming in much quicker to try to capture these protesters, we can see them all running this way. that's because the protesters also have their own new tactic, a hit—and—run type of strategy, where they go somewhere, they'll target the area, they'll spray it, they'll throw things at the police or what have you, and then go very quickly on the other direction because they don't want to get arrested. and here we have the police forming up on this side as well, so it's not good enough any more for the police just to secure the area, they want to catch protesters. but by the same token,

the protesters also don't want to stand there and have pitched battles with the police, because what they want to do is not be arrested and live to campaign another day, if i can put it to you that way. in china, at least 13 people have been killed, 16 are missing, and over a million people have been forced from their homes, as a powerful typhoon heads towards the financial capital, shanghai. as sophia tran—thomson reports, typhoon lekima is thought to be the region's worst storm in five years. super typhoon lekima hit eastern china on saturday, blasting the coast with heavy rain and 200 km/h winds, leading to mass evacuations and widespread transport disruption. the typhoon made landfall around the city and has been making its way to the south—eastern province.

800,000 people have been evacuated in the province and 250,000 in shanghai. over 200 homes have been destroyed and an additional 2.7 million people had lost power across the province. one of the biggest concerns for emergency workers is that at least 49 reservoirs across the region have registered water levels exceeding the normal capacity. one natural dam has already collapsed. chinese state tv has reported that over 2000 flights have been cancelled across the country since friday because of both the typhoon and heavy thunderstorms. the civil aviation authority says airports are closely monitoring the weather and accommodating affected passengers but warned that the extreme conditions would continue to challenge airlines for some time to come. to exacerbate travel issues, trains have also been cancelled and highways have been closed as roads and some areas had turned into rivers. the emergency services are working to rescue stranded motorists and search for missing people.

the conditions are hugely challenging. the typhoon is expected to lose some of that strength before it hit shanghai, but the slow pace increases the risk of prolonged rainfall and flooding. a new report has found that many people on average incomes are earning less in real terms than they were nine years ago. the tuc says that people in middle—earning jobs, such as construction and admin workers, had seen their real wages fall by around 1% since 2010. the government says it's increased the national living wage and cut income tax for 32 million people. at least 50 people have been killed and many more injured after a fuel

tanker exploded in tanzania. the lorry is believed to have exploded in the area of morogoro around 200 kilometres to the west of the capital city dar es salaam. a local police chief said people were trying to remove fuel from the vehicle when the blast happened. crowds of protesters have gathered in moscow to demand free elections. saturday's rally has been permitted by the authorities, but the organisers have called for a march through the city centre afterwards, raising the prospect of further clashes with police. the demonstrations began after opposition candidates were barred from running in local elections, but the protesters are also now expressing anger about police violence against them. reports from russia suggest that more than 60 people have been arrested in conection with today's protests. earlier, our moscow correspondent sarah rainsford gave this update. the crowd has started to gather here in moscow for this protest rally, despite this awful weather — driving rain for several hours.

they've come to join what began as a wave of protests against the refusal to allow opposition candidates to register for the moscow city elections, but there is now a new slogan, a new cause for these protesters, and that is the fact that thousands of people who have taken part in previous rallies have been detained, some of them are now facing criminal charges. so up on the stage here, there is a slogan, one of them is "let them in" — let the candidates into the election. the other is "let them out" — people out of prison. and i think the prosecution and the scenes that we saw of police violence against largely peaceful protesters at previous protests is what has been fuelling these gatherings, making them grow, increasing support and anger. so i think today it will be interesting to see exactly how big the crowd is, given that this is an authorised rally. now, what we have also to keep an eye on is the fact that police have warned anyone who intends to take their protest beyond here, this authorised spot, into the city centre will face a very tough response from the security services here.

they say that they could be arrested, they could face criminal prosecution. so there's been a whole series of strict warnings against people heading into the city centre with their protests, and i think that's because these rallies have really taken the authorities here by surprise, and i think the scale of the anger, generally, here is worrying for those in charge in moscow and right up to the kremlin. that was sarah rainsford. richard braine has been elected as the the new leader of ukip. mr braine, the party's west london chairman, took 53% of the vote in a ballot of members. he was the favoured candidate of former leader gerard batten, who stood down after the party was wiped out in the european elections and was then barred from standing again by ukip's national executive committee. homes and businesses in whaley bridge will be able to access emergency government funding, to cover any losses following the evacuation of the town.

£100,000 is being made available to help with any costs not covered by insurance. people were moved from the area last week, amid fears the nearby dam could collapse. the fund is part of a bigger £5 million pot for flood—hit communities. the environment agency said it was carrying out tests on part of the river frome in somerset after it was turned bright blue by a mystery substance. results are expected on monday, but it is being treated as a pollution incident. currently, there are no reports of dead wildlife. a rare set of twin pandas have been born at a zoo in belgium. here they are. they've been described as looking like little pink shrimps and are completely hairless. twin pandas are extremely rare, and usually one of them won't survive, but keepers say the boy and girl are doing well. mum how how is said to be showing a "very strong protective instinct".